1. Water: The Indispensable Resource
(Chapter 17)

2. 1,600 cubic metres The amount or water used in Canada per capita basis for all purposes. Of the 29 member nations of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), only the United States uses more water than Canada on a per capita basis. Canada’s per capita water consumption is 65 per cent above the OECD average. Source: OECD

4. 50% The percentage of all municipally-treated water used up during the summer months by people watering their lawns and gardens. Source: Environment Canada
30% The percentage of Canadians who rely on groundwater for domestic use. Source: Statistics Canada

6. More than 24 million The number of Canadians who receive municipal drinking water. Source: Federation of Canadian Municipalities
About 4,000 The number of municipal water treatment plants in Canada that treat drinking water taken from lakes, rivers and groundwater sources. Source: Federation of Canadian Municipalities
Less than 3% The amount of municipally-treated water that is used for drinking. Source: Environment Canada

7. Breakdown of water used in the home
Task / Percentage of water used
Showers and baths 35%
Toilet Flushing 30%
Laundry 20%
Kitchen and drinking 10%
Cleaning 5%

9. 41% The percentage of Canadians whose water received tertiary treatment, the highest level of wastewater treatment, in This was up from 28 per cent in Source: Statistics Canada More than 1 trillion litres The amount of untreated sewage dumped into our waters every year (about 3.25 billion litres per day) by 21 cities across the country. Source: Sierra Legal Defence Fund

12. 7 The number of people who died in Walkerton, Ontario, in May 2000 when E. coli and other bacteria contaminated the town’s water supply. In total, over 2,000 people got sick. Source: CBC News Online

13. How much water is used per task
Task Amount consumed
Washing machine litres
Shower (10 minutes) litres
Bath litres
Dishwasher litres
Washing dishes by hand 35 litres
Toilet flush litres
Brushing your teeth (with tap running) 10 litres
Hand washing (with tap running) 8 litres

14. The UN Declares "Water for Life" as the International Decade for Action and sets the world agenda on a greater focus on water- related issues

15. 1.1 billion The estimated number of people worldwide who lack access to clean drinking water billion The estimated number of people worldwide who lack access to sanitation. Most are in Africa and Asia. 2 billion The estimated number of people who depend on groundwater worldwide (about one-third of the world's population). Countries around the world face rapidly depleting groundwater resources, including parts of India, China, West Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, the former Soviet Union and the western United States.

17. About 80 The number of countries that had experienced serious water shortages by the mid 1990s. This makes up about 40 per cent of the world's population. One-third The proportion of the global population who live in countries with moderate-to-high water stress. Water stress occurs when water consumption exceeds 10 per cent of renewable freshwater resources. West Asia faces the severest threat. More than 90 per cent of the population in the region lives under severe water stress.